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Purple fan

Registered: 07-2005
Posts: 734
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Dire Straits - Alchemy


Discuss?
11/3/2008, 4:28 Link to this post Send Email to paice30   Send PM to paice30
 
Knopflers Fingers Profile
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The Best Part(s) !

Registered: 12-2005
Posts: 1430
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Re: Dire Straits - Alchemy


For a start, why the damn thing not available on dvd?
Well, for me is the best live official album ever. I like the Mandela gig with Eric Clapton as a special guest better though, my first encounter with Mark and Eric, thats why is special. Theres also a concert from the golden heart in 96 in Vaison that i really like too. But Alchemy is a perfect and legendary concert as well.

Once upon a time in the west – great opener, very atmosferic intro, its suposed to be a Morricone type of melody. Mark is a fan of him. Love the lyrics, very funny and clever. The guitar work lovely, specially the first solo.The end solo is of course also great, some pretty fast and weird notes . The drums is also great, i preffer the jazzy style of Pick Witters, but Terry Willians more rock aproach is great as well. The hammond work is very subtle, but great.

Expresso Love – Lovely song, Mark with a pick! Nowadays Mark plays a LOT with a pick, see the latest album Kill to get Crimson. Again, Alan Clark on keyboards (piano) –“He makes the orchestra”, like Mark himself says. Theres in my mind only one Keyboard/hammond/piano player on Alan´s level, guess who? Love the end of the song.

Romeo and Juliet – I dream of having a National Steel O guitar. Beautiful, just beautiful. According to Mark, the price varies to $20 to god knows what...Again, the piano...Alan Clark is responsable for great things in the band, i give him much credit for the more “complex” Straits period, when Mark added keybords and other instruments, making the songs more complex and intrincate. Of course, its a well known fact that sometimes ( a lot of times )Mark himself composes, for instance, the piano parts, what happens is that Alan interprets Marks “wishes”, lets put this way. Nowadays hes more relaxed, he gives more room to the other musicians to create. At this period he was pretty much in charge of everything.But i really love the Mandela gig version, with a guitar solo at the end...just great.

Love over gold – now it gets tricky – favorite songs for me is always a changing process, but this song is always there on my favs. I cant explain, the lyrics, the melody, the way he sings, is so hauting for me. Love it. Again – the piano!! Of course the solo at the end....

Private Investigations – very good version of the song. Very atmosferic. Mark won a award for the lyrics. Almost minimalist song.

Sultans of Swing- this version gained a mythic status. Its ridiculous how Mark can always come up with a new version for almost every song every tour! I´m not saying a improvised solo, i´m saying changing and adding lots of new things on the song. The most “bizarre” example is a song from the first album – Water of love – the studio version and the 96 version are TOTALLY diferent. But i digress.
Not comenting on the guitar solo ....ok, wanna say this – to this day, and i started to listen to Straits in 88, i think WTF those litle arpeggio/slap(?)/staccato (or a strange type of chiken pickin´) emoticon he does on the very beggining and in the midle solo. Hes laughing the whole time while doing those strange scales! Mark is in fact a very WEIRD player, thats why i like him, and his weiderness (?) is very present in this version. No one plays like that. The construction of the solo/melodies, very unique.
Two Young Lovers – rocking song for a rare ep called – Posters&Badgers and T shirts, it was recorded in one day. I hate the second guitarist, this guy is the only bad musician Mark ever hired. Nice sax.

Tunnel of Love – Mark refuses to play this song now. Why Mark? What a wonderful tune. The melody, the guitar work, the piano at the end. The quiet part at the midle/beggining of the end. The way the songs evolves with the mood changes, very typical of Mark´s writing, the changes of feelings and atmosferics (is that a word?).

Telegraph Road – 14 minutes of pure brillance! Here is the proof that Mark is not only a genius guitarist, hes also a genius songwriter, and thats the more important thing. Very complex and hard song to play, and foremost, a very hard piece to compose. I wish i´d wrote this song. I love the end solo of Sultans, but the solo at the end of TR is better, specially the one played at Basel in 1992.

Solid Rock – great song, great keyboard work. I remember a interview where Ritchie says that a guitar solo should have something to do with the song, not just an exercise in speed. Wise words. Thats always the case with Mark solos.

Local Hero – i love Mark soundtracks (what a surprise you say emoticon ). Very hauting melody, good way to close the show. Like this better without the sax and with the Les Paul, but still great.

What the hell, i recomend it emoticon . If you´re tired of the same cliche rock bands, the same boring song structures and guitar solos, give Dire Straits a chance. Its diferent i guarantee. Some people i know find them too perfect and boring, but thats a matter of taste, some people dont like Purple, can you believe??




15/3/2008, 3:06 Link to this post Send Email to Knopflers Fingers   Send PM to Knopflers Fingers
 
spotlight dad Profile
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Purple fan

Registered: 02-2007
Posts: 93
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Re: Dire Straits - Alchemy


a great band and a superb live recording!
20/3/2008, 22:55 Link to this post Send Email to spotlight dad   Send PM to spotlight dad
 


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